Survivor
by tinylexie
Summary: Lucius had always been good at surviving.


For the most part, Lucius Malfoy was not a bitter man. He rarely complained about his misfortunes in life, and he rarely used them as an excuse.

Most people thought that he had it all, and he never bothered with trying to contradict them. Let them think that he was entitled. Their inferior minds wouldn't be able to understand the truth anyways.

Lucius refused to see himself as a victim. No, he was a survivor. Everything horrible that he had endured in life had only served to make him stronger, not bring him down. His father, after all, had always insisted that he only punished and beat him out of love.

And Lucius was still alive, while his father was dead.

Lucius also never depended on his wealth as much as most people believed. Oh, he flashed just enough of it so that people would know that he had more than them, but he always made sure to never overspend. He knew how to budget. And he had side businesses. To put it simply, Lucius was good with numbers.

But being good with number was not Lucius's only strength. He also knew how to hold onto his values, no matter how much pain it cost him. In many ways, Lucius was both a physical and a mental survivor.

Lucius may had claimed to have been under the Imperius Curse during the First Wizarding War, but he had never claimed to love Muggles and Mudbloods. The fools at the Ministry didn't even bother with asking him about his opinion on such people.

Lucius had no problem with taking advantage of the fact that the Ministry had been stupid enough to connect him not serving the Dark Lord willingly to him not having a problem with people of inferior blood. It wasn't Lucius's fault that they couldn't see that there was no true connection between the two.

The Second Wizarding War had been a lot worse for Lucius, mostly because of the Dark Lord. But just like Lucius had survived his father's abuse, he had survived the Dark Lord's abuse as well. Lucius hated how he had submitted and cowered before the Dark Lord, but he refused to feel ashamed. Sometimes one had to act weak in order to make someone else feel overconfident in their strength.

Lucius knew from personal experience how overconfidence could end up being one's downfall. But looking at the bigger picture, the Dark Lord had definitely suffered from his overconfidence a lot more than Lucius had. The Dark Lord had died, while Lucius had lived.

Lucius may not have been a hero or a champion during the Second Wizarding War, but he had been a survivor. Many had died, but not him. Many had been imprisoned, but not him.

Lucius managed to hold onto his life, his freedom, and his values. He escaped Azkaban, and he didn't even have to give up his hatred of Muggles and Mudbloods to do so. Once again, the Ministry had not bothered with asking him about any of that.

True, Lucius had given up many of his former Death Eater comrades in order to avoid Azkaban, but they had betrayed him first. They had laughed at him and his family when the Dark Lord had taunted and tortured them. They had never shown him or his family any support.

Not that Lucius was bitter about any of that, because he really wasn't. Lucius could understand why they had acted the way that they did. Purebloods learned at a young age that they could only count on themselves. As a Pureblood, you had to do whatever it took to keep yourself alive because no one else was going to look out for your safety and well-being.

As a result of their upbringing, loyalty had always been a fickle thing amongst Purebloods.

Lucius didn't help the Ministry to find his former comrades because he hated them or because he desired vengeance. No, Lucius betrayed his fellow Purebloods because it was what was necessary to keep him and his family safe and alive.

Besides, they shouldn't had been foolish enough to hide in places that they knew Lucius was aware of. They knew that Lucius was the King of Information.

And it certainly didn't hurt Lucius's case that the Ministry had no problem with taking advantage of the information that he was able to provide them. They wanted the other Death Eaters in Azkaban, and Lucius knew how to make that happen for them.

It wasn't Lucius's fault that the other Death Eaters did not know how to use their resources to their best advantage or that they didn't know how to take care of themselves.

Lucius, on the other hand, had always known how to play his cards right. He knew what he had to say and do in order to survive.


End file.
